The definitive (rumor) guide to the Samsung Galaxy S3

Will it come with a hexa-core processor? How about a retractable screen with holographic display?

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OK, so we know that not a day seems to pass by without some crazy rumor about the Samsung Galaxy S3. From memory, it’s hard to recall another Android phone that has received as much attention before it was even announced. For better or worse, it’s a clue that the next Galaxy phone is off to a good start. I mean it’s better to be overhyped than not to register on people’s radar at all, right?

Now we’re nearing the day when the vaunted device will finally be unveiled (for a precise countdown and the chance to win a Galaxy S3, visit our awesome giveaway page.) Some hard facts about the device are still under question, but that doesn’t mean that the information that we have so far is not reliable.

So, for your gadget lusting pleasure, we’ve compiled a list of the most reliable information about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3. It’s all cherry picked from — what we believe to be — the more reliable sources (as reliable as they can get, anyway). Enjoy!

What to call the phone

You know, there was never any doubt in our mind that the successor to the Samsung Galaxy S2 will be called, well, the Samsung Galaxy S3. At least, that was the case until some rumors from UK came along, suggesting that Samsung will give up on its naming convention.

Fortunately, we’ve heard straight from Samsung’s vice-president, Robin Yi, that the device we’ve all been drooling over for a couple of months will indeed be known as the Samsung Galaxy S3. For now, it’s not clear though if Samsung will stick with the convention and use the S III form, or will change to the more readable S3. For simplicity, we’ll stick to the later version.

What it will look like

This one’s a tough one. Samsung took a page out of Apple’s cookbook and have managed not to let any pictures of the real Galaxy S3 to be leaked online. Granted, there are a bunch of supposedly leaked pictures of the S3, but it’s likely that all those leaks do not depict the actual design of the phone. It is well known that Samsung sent out smartphones with the internal specs of the S3 for testing, but packed in dummy cases.

Fortunately, though, there are a few leaks that seem to add up nicely:

B. A “leaked” image of the S3 showed up at PhoneArena, bearing remarkable similarities to both the Know Your Mobile leak, as well as the sketch contained inside the leaked GT-i9300 (a phone presumed to be the Galaxy S3) user manual:

C. Here’s a photoshop render of the S3, based on the sketch inside the leaked user manual:

Given the fact that the Galaxy S3 will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, it’s unlikely that it will feature any capacitive buttons, as ICS places a row of software buttons at the bottom of the display. It would not be surprising if a hardware home button is all there is to the front of the smartphone (besides the display, of course). Other rumors claim that the S3 will feature a metal/ceramic case and that it will come in two color variants (white and blue-black).

What it will be packing inside

Packing some serious hardware? Check.

Although Samsung has been quite mum on the Galaxy S3, it did confirm that it will feature a quad-core Exynos 4 processor, most likely the Exynos 4412 SoC that Samsung has announced at MWC 2012. It is also believed that Samsung will use the same Mali-400 GPU as inside the Galaxy S2, but overclocked to 400MHz up from 266MHz.

As far as the display goes, we’ve seen rumors pointing towards a display size between 4.6 and 4.8 inches. The difference in size is not the most important thing, however, as many fans are expecting that the rumored 1080 by 720 pixel (non-Pentile) resolution to come true. At 4.6 inches with a 1080 x 720 resolution, the S3 could showcase a 281PPI pixel density, close to the density of the Retina display (316), although it’s safe to assume that Samsung will use the SAMOLED True HD tech in their next flagship smartphone.

Another rumor goes as far as to claim that Samsung will take HTC’s example and equip the US, LTE-enabled version of the Galaxy S3 with a Qualcomm S4 SoC. However, I find this unlikely as Samsung already uses its own LTE radio inside the Galaxy Nexus. HTC engineers were forced to take this step with the One X because the Tegra 3 SoC does not feature LTE connectivity.

Other rumored specs include

Release Date

Back in March, Samsung announced that would will reveal the Galaxy S3 closer to its market availability. As the superphone will be revealed in just a couple of days, it should be safe to assume that the Samsung Galaxy S3 release date will come at some point in June. In addition, it is believed that the US release date will come before the start of the Summer Olympics 2012 in London, an event that Samsung is sponsoring heavily.

Will it meet expectations?

Unlike some, we don’t have unrealistically high expectations of the Samsung Galaxy S3, but we’re still pretty sure that the phone will kick some serious behind when it is revealed on May 3. Alleged benchmark results of the phone’s quad-core processor showed that it can play nice with the rest of the big boys — even beating them.

Though the Samsung Galaxy S3 may not be a life-changing phone, some solid specs and good design would be more than enough for us – and perhaps for many people as well.